Private Sector Sources of Information
Moderator: Joel Brenner, Director, National Counterterrorism Center, ODNI
Mr. Brenner emphasizes that the IC needs to get past the bias against unclassified information and the information glut is a huge business now. Privacy is also a major concern. The boundary between the public and private sector is disappearing, the world is speeding up. Businesses realize that getting their product to market quickly is essential in order to compete or chance becoming obsolete or pirated. If the intelligence community cannot get to the information quickly it will be unable to do it’s job.
He introduces the panel.
Jeffery R Smith, National Security Task Force Member, Markle Foundation, tells story about his introduction to secret intelligence and stolen materials – about a top level analyst who trusted media (specifically the New York Times) rather than the secret sources. He got the opinion that the CIA competed against the Times for the President’s attention. As he got further into the business he started to learn about the confidence factor (and lack of) in classified info. Much of the important intelligence may not be in govt hands at all and may be instead held in the private sector. The question is how to share info in the new era and share with the private sector (including protecting that info). He advocates not procurement but instead a sharing system that will allow the movement of info between trusted entities in the govt and private sector.
Warren Wright,Managing Partner, Government Division, Gallup, discusses the roles between the psychology of public opinion and subsequent events, such as social unrest.
Andrew Marshall, Chief Risk Officer for Business Intelligence, Kroll, Inc., has dealt most with business intelligence and investigations, which is a growing market. Predominantly, the private sector is looking at particular projects or problems with a short term identified and is outcome focused. Nearly always the info will be an integration from public sources (databases, media, etc) and human sources (interviews, etc). He says the bar to enter the markets has been lowered. The viability of the current information is in question which causes a predicament in delivering info to clients with confidence. The threats to the business are mounting: balance of risk and opportunity (business sees risk in new markets), technology (need to invest and integrate technology, costs and culture), getting the right people (recruiting the right balance of skills).
Frank J. Cilluffo, Director, Homeland Security Policy Institute, George Washington University, points out that intelligence is a means to an end and is not the end in itself. The predominant attitude pre-9/11 was, “When in doubt leave it out.” After 9/11 it seems to be “put everything and the kitchen sink in.” Open Source plays the most significant role in providing context, the mosaic..
Mr. Brenner Opens the session to questions.
